The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of deploying scarce public resources to launder his battered image abroad instead of addressing the deepening security and economic crises at home.
ADC in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, described reported Federal Government’s $9 million lobbying contract in the United States, as “obscene sum to a short-term public relations exercise.”
The party said while it recognises the importance of representing Nigeria’s interests internationally, spending $9 million on image management at a time when millions of Nigerians could afford food, fuel, or basic healthcare is a case of misplaced priorities and moral blindness.
“This decision is also an admission of diplomatic failure,” the party stated, noting that a government that has left key ambassadorial positions vacant now seeks to outsource diplomacy to lobbyists.
According to the party, this further weakens Nigeria’s institutional credibility and reduces foreign policy to transactional propaganda.
“More troubling is the illusion that paid lobbying in Washington can erase the reality of mass killings, widespread insecurity, and state failure at home,” ADC said, adding that no amount of image laundering could wash away the blood of thousands of Nigerians killed under Tinubu’s administration.
“Lobbying to impress foreign leaders cannot substitute for a coherent strategy to end the bloodbath.
“A President who declares a state of emergency on security and then proceeds on foreign holidays cannot be rescued by public relations firms,” ADC said.
The party that the lobbyists effort to “communicate Christian protection efforts” could risk deepening sectarian tensions and politicising security in a country already strained by religious and ethnic fault lines.
“Security failures affect all Nigerians, regardless of faith, and cannot be addressed through selective messaging abroad instead of justice, accountability, and effective governance at home,” ADC stated.
The party said what Nigeria needs is not propaganda but leadership, adding that resources meant to protecting lives, restoring trust in state institutions, and rebuilding a country in distress, should not be used to polish the image of a government that has failed its most basic responsibility.
